


Quality Time

by sixbeforelunch



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Fluff Bingo Quarter 2, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 23:45:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18292589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixbeforelunch/pseuds/sixbeforelunch
Summary: Riker tries to be a good husband and a good captain. It's not always easy.





	Quality Time

**Author's Note:**

> For [Fluff Bingo ](https://fluffbingo.dreamwidth.org/). Prompt "Quality Time".

Deanna didn't often wear civilian clothing on the bridge of the _Titan_. On both Betazed and Earth, captains had been bringing their spouses along for the ride since the days of wooden sailing ships, but most spouses were civilians, or else they were so far down the chain of command that they only nominally fell under the captain's purview. Being both the captain's spouse and a member of the senior staff... Starfleet didn't like it one bit. It said something about both of their service records that they'd been allowed to do it at all, and they both knew perfectly well that they were being watched very closely to see if they could pull it off.

What was more, Deanna couldn't fault them for that. It was a hard thing to be both a parter and a subordinate, and she didn't imagine it was any easier for Will to balance being her husband and her commanding officer. So, there were rules, and one of them was that on the bridge, Deanna was Commander Troi, in spirit if not always in name--they had been Will and Deanna for too long, and they only fell back onto ranks when there was a good reason for it--and she was always in uniform.

But today they had both cleared their schedules to have lunch together for the first time in far too long, and Deanna decided that, just this once, the purple dress that Will loved so much could come out.

She stepped onto the bridge, and was greeted by a crisp, "Commander", although the ensign who said it was surprised to see her out of uniform. And a little turned on. Well, the dress was one of Will's favorites for a reason, and that reason was cleavage.

Hiding her pleasure at realizing she could still provoke a reaction, she pressed the call button outside of Will's ready room, and the door slid open without a word from him. He must have keyed it from his desk. He waved her in while saying, "And how is that supposed to work, exactly?"

Ayla Lish, the Titan's Betazoid first officer, brushed her mind against Deanna's. Deanna gave her permission, and Ayla skimmed the surface of her thoughts. Deanna felt vague pity from her, which meant Ayla knew exactly how much Deanna had been looking forward to this lunch, and also she was pretty sure Will wasn't going to make it.

On the view screen, a Bolian officer was going on about resource management and schedules and new protocols.

"So we're all just supposed to swallow this terrible program, and when it fails...what? Just hope that no one dies before it gets fixed?"

"I think that's overstating things, Captain."

"Spoken like someone who has never been on an extended-duty ship tour."

The Bolian pursed her lips, and even without her empathic sense to guide her, Deanna could see the exhaustion of the messenger who was taking the brunt of the ire directed at her message. "Sir, if you would like to speak to Admiral Gafau--"

"Yes, that is exactly what I want! That is what I have been trying to accomplish for two hours."

"Hold please."

The Bolian disappeared, replaced by a spinning Starfleet logo.

Will looked at her and Deanna felt a sudden rush of guilt. "Lunch. I'm so sorry, I--"

Deanna sighed. "You can't come. I understand."

"I've been trying to get through to the admiral for hours, and it's important, and--"

"Will," she cut him off with a raised hand. "It's okay."

"Deanna, I--"

"Captain Riker, why are you haranguing my PA?"

Will's face went the sort of still that meant he was well and truly pissed off. "I'm not haranguing anyone, sir. I just need to know--"

Deanna slipped out without a word. She found Selar, whom Will had managed to coax from the _Enterprise_ to be his CMO, in the medbay and invited her to lunch. Halfway through, a civilian botanist from the arboretum appeared with a small bouquet of flowers. "Captain's complements," he said, handing them to her with a sly grin. Greer was a hopeless romantic. He'd probably jumped at the chance to deliver them.

Selar raised an eyebrow. Deanna just smiled and took them back to work with her. They looked nice on her desk.

*

Dinner this time in the dining hall, and a new outfit instead of an old favorite. Will arrived on time, and dropped a kiss on her cheek. "New shirt?"

"New everything. Like it?"

"I do." He sat down across from her and ordered a glass of wine from a passing waiter. "I think I'm developing a twitch," he said, rubbing the corner of his eye. "Jean-Luc said the first year would be the hardest and that it would get easier after that. I really hope he was right."

Deanna took his hand. "That's the first time you've referred to Captain Picard by his first name without feeling awkward about it."

Will laughed softly. "I think seeing him naked at the wedding probably helped cut through the last of the formality. It feels almost natural now."

Deanna smiled and rubbed a thumb across his knuckles. "Eventually being the captain will feel natural too."

He was uncertain. So many times he'd been in command when Picard was away, but at the end of the day, but with the exception of Wolf 359--which had left scars on all of them--Picard had still been the captain. He had been a safety net, of a sort. And now the net was gone, and Will was scared, and felt inadequate to the task. No need to bring any of that to his attention, though. Instead, she gave his hand a tight squeeze and said, "I'm so proud of you. And there's no captain I'd rather serve under. Or on top of. Any position is good, really."

Will grinned. "We can--"

"Bridge to Captain Riker."

Will tapped his comm badge. "Go ahead."

"Sir, there's a Ferengi hailing us that claims he has information about the whereabouts of the _Maracom_."

The waiter arrived with the wine, and Will just pushed it away. He wouldn't allow himself even synthale if he knew he was going to go back on duty. "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"It's a Starfleet ship that went missing almost eight years ago."

"Let me guess," Will said. "He wants to sell us the location."

"Yes sir."

Will reluctantly let go of her hand. "I'll be right there." He stood, radiating guilt. "I promised you dinner. I--"

"This is more important, Will. There's no question about it. And I'm coming with you." She wouldn't be able to read the Ferengi, but body language could still reveal a lot.

Later, much later, Deanna walked into their quarters to find Will fast asleep on the couch. A bowl of freshly replicated chocolate-covered strawberries was on the table, and a piece of actual paper said, in Will's surprisingly good penmanship, "Sorry about dinner."

Deanna indulged in a strawberry and leaned down to kiss his forehead. He didn't so much as stir. She covered him with the blanket and took the strawberries to bed.

*

They found the _Maracom_. They even found survivors, but the circumstances of it all were so bizarre and disturbing, that already the rumors and whispers had begun. The surviving members of the crew, and the children they had borne during those eight years, were aboard the _Titan_ now, and Deanna and her staff had been working overtime to try to help them.

Will found her sitting on the edge of the bed one morning, sobbing.

"Deanna, what--"

She shook her head, wishing that their quarters were larger, that there was more privacy. This was just something she needed, to have a good, long cry, but she didn't like to do it in front of someone else, not even Will, because then she had to deal with his emotions as well as her own. But telling him to go away would just make things worse, or at least more complicated, so she let him wrap his arms around her and rock her gently. "Shh. Don't cry--"

"Don't tell me not to cry," she managed, and pulled away, annoyed by his guilt and his worry.

He didn't say anything, just rubbed her back until she had cried herself out, and got up to wash her face in the sink.

She cleared her throat and walked back out. Will was still half-dressed, in his uniform pants and undershirt, feet bare and hair un-brushed. "Are you okay now?"

She took off her nightgown and started to dress. "I was always okay. There are a lot of people in a lot of pain on this ship right now. It's...hard to feel all of that. Sometimes giving myself space to cry it out is the only thing that helps."

Will was thoughtful. "I understand. Or, I don't, but--look, why don't we eat breakfast together? Take a few minutes for ourselves. It's been a long week."

"I have a meeting with Ayla. I'm going to be late as it is, and you know how she gets." Anyone who thought there were no up-tight Betazoids only needed to spend five minutes with Ayla Lish to learn how wrong they were.

"I'll tell Ayla to reschedule. She can't yell at me."

Deanna chewed her lip. "Breakfast would be nice."

Will picked up her hesitation, and the reason for it. "I know we have to be careful of appearances, but I don't think one rescheduled meeting is going to call our professionalism into question."

She relented. "Replicate me some French toast."

They managed to get half-way through their meal before Will's comm badge chirped. Will answered the call and Tora Rahl, the ship's security officer, said, "Captain, can you please come down to cargo bay 2? There's been an incident that I think you need to be made aware of immediately, and it's not something I can discuss on an open comm."

Tora wasn't prone to overreacting, and she didn't waste people's time. Will got to his feet immediately. "Sorry," he muttered.

Deanna sipped her coffee. "Let me know if you need me."

*

Deanna spent most of the day dealing with the _Marcom_ survivors, and collapsed into bed the moment she got back to her quarters. She was woken up a few hours later by Will. He didn't turn the light on and moved quietly through the space. She appreciated the effort, but she was still in her uniform, and was glad he had woken her up so she could properly get ready for bed. She heard the bathroom door open and close, and the hum of the shower, and sat up, getting undressed and brushing her hair.

Will came out of the bathroom, still naked from the shower. She slipped past him without a word and went to get a shower of her own. When she came out, he was sitting in bed in his pajamas, staring up at the ceiling. "I'll make it up to you."

"Make what up?" Deanna asked, pulling her nightgown down over her head.

"Breakfast."

Deanna sighed. She just wanted to sleep, but apparently they were going to deal with this now. She straddled him, and rested her weight on his thighs. "Why do you feel so guilty about this? And why do you feel like you need to give me presents every time you get pulled away from a meal?"

Will reached out to play with her hair, an unconscious habit that Deanna hoped he never lost. "You know Captain Kevkot?"

"Yes."

"We were talking, not long before the Titan left spacedock. They quoted me the statistics on Starfleet ship captains and divorce."

"Kevkot is a miserable, bitter person who has been divorced three times for reasons that have nothing to do with their career."

"Maybe. But they're not wrong about the odds. Marriages take time, and time is not something captains have in abundance."

She took his face in her hands. "Will, _imzadi_ , listen to me very carefully. If I had had any doubts about my ability to be married to a ship captain, I would not have done it, not to you and not to myself. It is true that I don't get you to myself as much as I might like, but I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. You give me as much time as you're able to. Besides, it's not like I'm just sitting around waiting for you to pay attention to me. I have plenty of my own work to do."

He kissed her. "I love you. And you are very important to me. I don't ever want you to doubt that."

"I don't. But I have to share you with the _Titan_ , which is also very important, and that's okay."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

He searched her face, and she felt the moment when he finally believed her, felt the relief that settled over him. "So no more presents just because I got pulled away from a meal?"

"Well...the presents don't exactly hurt."

*

She wasn't surprised by the huge bouquet of her favorite flowers on her desk the next day, or the chocolates that Will brought her in the afternoon, carving out a few minutes between meetings to deliver them himself, or the rose petals on the bed that night. Will Riker rarely did anything small. It was one of the things she loved about him.

end


End file.
